Written Answers Monday 30 March 2009

Scottish Executive

Alcohol Misuse

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences were recorded for the (a) sale of alcohol to a person under 18, (b) purchase of alcohol for consumption by a person under 18, (c) purchase of alcohol or its consumption on a licensed premises by a person under 18 and (d) confiscation of alcohol from a person under 18 in 2007-08, broken down by police force.

Kenny MacAskill: The following table shows the number of alcohol offences relating to persons under 18 recorded by the eight Scottish police forces in financial year 2007-08, broken down by police force:

  Number of Alcohol Offences Relating to Persons Under 18, by Police Force, 2007-08

  

 
 (a) Sale of Alcohol to Person Under 181
 (b) Purchasing Excisable Liquor for Consumption by Under 18
 (c) Person Under 18 Buying Excisable Liquor or Consuming in a Bar
 (d) Confiscation of Alcohol from Person Under 182
 Total


 Central
 49
 63
 0
 0
 112


 Dumfries and Galloway
 36
 28
 8
 0
 72


 Fife
 76
 41
 0
 3
 120


 Grampian
 76
 61
 13
 0
 150


 Lothian and Borders
 104
 65
 26
 1
 196


 Northern
 20
 42
 12
 0
 74


 Strathclyde
 196
 187
 50
 4
 437


 Tayside
 19
 61
 6
 0
 86


 Scotland
 576
 548
 115
 8
 1,247



  Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services.

  Notes:

  1. Covers sale of alcohol to under 18s by all licensed persons. There were no crimes recorded in 2007-08 for wholesalers selling alcohol to persons under 18 years.

  2. The offence being failure to comply with a confiscation request by a police officer made under Section 61 of the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997.

  I also refer the member to the answer to question S3W-22056 on 30 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Alcohol Misuse

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions there were for the (a) sale of alcohol to a person under 18, (b) purchasing of alcohol for consumption by a person under 18, (c) purchase of alcohol or its consumption on a licensed premises by a person under 18 and (d) confiscation of alcohol from a person under 18 in 2007-08, broken down by police force.

Kenny MacAskill: Data on criminal proceedings in Scottish courts for 2007-08 will be published on 28 April 2009. For 2006-07, the latest year for which data is currently available, prosecutions for offences related to underage alcohol consumption are contained in the following table.

  Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Offences Related to Underage Alcohol Consumption1, by Police Force Area, 2006-07

  

 Police Force Area
 (a) Sale of Alcohol to Person Under 182
 (b) Purchasing Excisable Liquor for Consumption by Person Under 18
 (c) Person Under 18 Buying Excisable Liquor or Consuming in Bar
 (d) Confiscation of Alcohol from Person Under 183
 Total


 Central 
 8
 7
 -
 -
 15


 Dumfries and Galloway
 -
 3
 -
 -
 3


 Fife 
 5
 4
 -
 -
 9


 Grampian 
 8
 9
 -
 -
 17


 Lothian and Borders 
 16
 14
 4
 -
 34


 Northern 
 4
 12
 -
 -
 16


 Strathclyde 
 45
 40
 2
 -
 87


 Tayside 
 2
 9
 1
 -
 12


 Scotland
 88
 98
 7
 -
 193



  Notes:

  1. Where main offence.

  2. Covers the crime categories "sale of drink to person under 18" and "wholesaler selling liquor to person under 18" although there were no prosecutions in 2006-07 for wholesalers selling liquor to persons under 18.

  3. The offence being failure to comply with a confiscation request by a police officer made under Section 61 of the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997.

  Please note that prosecution is not the sole course taken in dealing with these offences.

  With regard to this answer, and the answer to question S3W-22055 on 30 March 2009, it should be noted that statistics dealing with court proceedings and recorded crime are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim and there is the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings. Also a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Ambulance Service

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in the procurement of air ambulances.

Shona Robison: The current contract for the provision of air ambulance services is due to expire on 31 March 2013. The Scottish Ambulance Service will begin the process of re-procuring this service in the second half of this year, 2009, with the outcome being a new contract beginning on 1 April 2013.

Animal Welfare

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to publish its response to the consultation on the draft Dog Welfare Code of Practice that closed on 1 May 2008.

Richard Lochhead: Comments on the draft Dog Welfare Code of Practice are being considered and the draft code is being amended to take account of the responses to the consultation. A revised version of the code will be laid in Parliament later in the year.

Animal Welfare

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its Dog Welfare Code of Practice will contain advice against the use of electric shock collars on dogs.

Richard Lochhead: The Dog Welfare Code of Practice will not contain advice against the use of electric shock collars on dogs, as there is insufficient information on which sound advice can be based. The Companion Animal Welfare Council have been commissioned to conduct a detailed review of the available literature and Lincoln and Bristol Universities have been sponsored to undertake practical research on the effects these collars have on dogs. Both studies are expected to report their findings in 2010.

  When the results of these studies are available, the code will be reviewed and, if necessary, appropriate advice given.

Antisocial Behaviour

Shirley-Anne Somerville (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many antisocial behaviour incidents have been recorded by Lothian and Borders Police as occurring in flats let on a short-term or holiday basis in each of the last five years.

Fergus Ewing: The information requested is not held centrally.

Apprenticeships

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will utilise the resources for skills and training in further education colleges to assist with apprenticeship programmes during the current economic recession.

Fiona Hyslop: On the 25 January 2009, the Scottish Funding Council allocated £7 million so that colleges can offer customised training for individuals who lose their job, including apprentices.

  Where apprentices are made redundant and cannot find alternative employment, and are not close to completing their apprenticeship, we are working with Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council, sector skills councils and trade bodies to guarantee that they have the opportunity to complete alternative, relevant training. Scotland’s colleges have a key role to play in this. The Scottish Funding Council and Scotland’s colleges have also been represented at our discussions on how to ensure that our offer best works to meet the need of apprentices.

Bees

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place with HM Government and the Welsh Assembly Government on plans to improve the health of honey bees.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any discussions with HM Government and the Welsh Assembly Government on the health of honey bees included the prospect of Scotland joining in the 10-year plan being rolled out in England and Wales to improve the health of honey bees.

Richard Lochhead: While responsibility for the health of honey bees is a devolved area, the GB administrations have constant dialogue on matters of common concern. All three administrations worked together to draw up the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Bee Health Strategy following which the Scottish Government Rural Directorate held discussions with the major Scottish bee interests to draft a comparable strategy for Scotland. Arrangements are in place for further discussions on how to take forward the Scottish strategy. There is also regular dialogue at GB level on research initiatives.

Bees

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to address the decline of honey bee numbers.

Richard Lochhead: Implementation of the Honey Bee Health Strategy for Scotland is designed to promote the health of honey bees and so halt the decline in numbers.

Bees

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what regular liaison takes place with the Scottish Beekeepers Association and professional beekeepers on issues surrounding the decline of honey bee numbers.

Richard Lochhead: Meetings are held with beekeepers’ representatives both for the purpose of general updates and where and when specific areas of concern have to be addressed. One of the aims of the Honey Bee Health Strategy for Scotland is to promote dialogue with stakeholders.

Bees

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to secure effectively the biosecurity of honey bees in the long term.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government provides beekeepers with free training in bee husbandry and best practice as the most effective way to improve biosecurity. Beekeepers are also encouraged to be vigilant when sourcing new supplies of bees. Biosecurity is one of the central planks of the proposed Honey Bee Health Strategy for Scotland.

Bees

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any initiatives in UK plans to halt the decline of honey bee numbers that are not included in its own strategies.

Richard Lochhead: In addition to the Scottish Government’s and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affair’s Bee Health Strategies, UK research funders, including the Scottish Government, are in advanced stages of planning a research initiative of significant size that will investigate reasons for the decline in honey bees and other pollinators and how it can be halted.

Communities

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has allocated to safer streets projects in North Ayrshire.

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of funding for safer streets projects in North Ayrshire.

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated to taxi marshals in North Ayrshire.

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has undertaken to assess the effectiveness of taxi marshals.

Fergus Ewing: North Ayrshire Community Safety Partnership (CSP) has been allocated a total of £106,000 for Safer Streets projects over the last three festive periods, which comprises £40,000 in 2006-07, £40,000 in 2007-08 and £26,000 in 2008-09. The CSP distributed this funding across a range of activities, based on local needs and priorities, for example high visibility policing activities to support the targeting of drink driving, provision of Safe/Night Zones to reduce risks for users of the night-time economy, youth events and taxi marshal schemes.

  Taxi marshal schemes received a total of £13,750 out of the Scottish Government’s Safer Streets funding.

  The Scottish Government is currently gathering information to gauge the impact of the Safer Streets initiative, including taxi marshals, based on evaluation reports produced by local authorities. Police and local authority reports suggest that these schemes have had a significant positive impact on reducing disorder around taxi-queues and in town centres over the festive period.

Crime

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many recorded crimes have been committed by people during a period of early release in each year since 1999.

Kenny MacAskill: This information is not held centrally.

  The Scottish Government does not hold individualised data on any crimes or offences recorded by the eight police forces in Scotland, and as such does not hold information on the nature of the crime or the circumstances that led to the crime being committed. As such it is not possible to identify how many recorded crimes have been committed by people during a period of early release.

Crime

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of internet fraud have been reported to police in each of the last five years.

Kenny MacAskill: This information is not held centrally.

  The statistics held centrally on crimes of fraud recorded by the police do not distinguish the circumstances of the fraud, such as whether the fraud involved use of the internet.

Crime

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has about internet fraud.

Kenny MacAskill: We, and the police, are treating all forms of fraud, including internet fraud, as a priority.

  We support the recommendations in Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland’s recent Thematic Inspection on Serious Fraud to ensure a more systematic approach to handling fraud in Scotland within the police service, including establishing a national strategic unit. Scottish Government officials are working closely with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) team set up to take those recommendations forward.

  The National Casework Division within the Crown Office and the police already work in partnership to investigate and prosecute high value, complex cases of fraud. Furthermore the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) has already identified around £37 million of fraud and error and has led to over 75 prosecutions in Scotland. We are strengthening the NFI by giving it statutory force in the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill. We are also using that bill to strengthen the law to ensure there are no barriers to all Scottish public authorities sharing information with each other and with anti-fraud organisations to help prevent and detect fraud.

Crime

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action police forces are taking to tackle internet fraud.

Kenny MacAskill: Tackling fraud is a high priority for the Scottish police service. The e-crime unit at the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency provides specialist support to the Scottish Police Service on serious organised crime facilitated by computer and other information technology.

  Following Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS) Thematic Inspection of Serious Fraud report, published in May 2008, an Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) led group has been established to take forward work to ensure a more systematic approach to understanding and handling fraud. It is expected to report shortly.

Crime

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether agencies other than the police are involved in tackling internet fraud.

Kenny MacAskill: In Scotland, the eight police forces, the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency e-crime unit and the Scottish Business Crime Centre are all involved in helping prevent internet fraud. In addition, private and business organisations such as banks and internet service providers are involved in monitoring and tackling internet fraud.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the recommendations in Hidden Harm - Next Steps: Supporting Children Working with Parents , what action has been taken to help health care workers to identify alcohol problems and domestic abuse during pregnancy.

Shona Robison: In September 2008, health officials wrote to all NHS board chief executives outlining a three-year programme to address the health consequences of gender-based violence. It outlines the responsibility of all NHS boards to produce and implement an action plan to introduce routine enquiry for domestic abuse in a range of settings, including maternity care. A National Gender-Based Violence Team has been created to support health boards develop and deliver on their action plans.

  The Scottish Government has also introduced a new NHS target on screening for alcohol misuse and delivering brief interventions to patients whose drinking may be putting their short and/or long-term health at risk. We have specified antenatal care as one of the priority settings for implementation.

  These actions form part of the implementation plan of Equally Well, the Report of the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities. The implementation plan, launched in December 2008, focuses activity around four broad groups of intermediate outcomes, which are designed to reduce health inequalities in the long-term, including: early years outcomes, and alcohol, drugs and violence outcomes. This recognises the vital importance of early intervention strategies and effective initiatives to tackle alcohol problems and violence in reducing health inequalities in Scotland.

  Our Early Years Framework also sets out a commitment to improving outcomes for children and families based on the principles of early intervention. Priorities include the development of parenting capacity as part of ante-natal and post-natal services, better training and new roles in the early years workforce and more co-ordinated services from birth to three years of age.

  More generally, all midwives are taught the importance of dynamic history taking and adopting ways to facilitate women to disclose information related to alcohol or domestic abuse. This includes recognising potential signs of either and asking all pregnant women about alcohol consumption and domestic abuse at varying stages through pregnancy and after. If either is suspected or confirmed, appropriate pathways of care and support systems are put in place.

  I also refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21978 on 27 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the recommendations in Hidden Harm - Next Steps: Supporting Children Working with Parents , what action it is taking to promote a greater understanding and recognition by children and adolescent mental health services that mental health issues for children are often linked to parental substance misuse.

Shona Robison: Children of parents with substance misuse problems will most likely be identified by adult health services dealing with the parents, who will in turn alert Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) if and when input from them is required. The children and young people may also be identified through local authority services dealing with the parents or the children who, again, will involve CAMHS if and when required.

  CAMHS clinicians assessing children and young people for the first time will ask about substance misuse in the family as a matter of course to ascertain any links to presenting problems.

  We continue to work with our partners to improve child and adolescent mental health services overall and most recently have confirmed £2 million of new money on a recurring basis from 2009-10, to be matched by new resources from NHS boards, to accelerate the development of specialist CAMHS in-patient services and support intensive community services.

  I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21978 on 27 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths in the NHS Lothian area were (a) alcohol and (b) drug related and, of these, how many were of people aged (i) under 18, (ii) 18 to 29, (iii) 30 to 55 and (iv) over 55, from 1999 to 2008.

Shona Robison: The total numbers of alcohol-related deaths in the NHS Lothian area, in each year from 1979 to 2007, are given in table 2 of the Alcohol-related deaths section of the web site of the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS), which can be found at this address  http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/deaths/alcohol-related-deaths/index.html . The corresponding figure for 2008 is, provisionally, 168 (a number which could be revised in the coming months: the final figure for 2008 will not be available until August 2009).

  The total numbers of drug-related deaths in the NHS Lothian area, in each year from 1996 to 2007, are given in Table HB1 of "Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2007", which was published by GROS in August 2008 and can be found on the GROS website via this address http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/drug-related-deaths/index.html. The corresponding figure for 2008 will not be available until August 2009.

  The following tables give the numbers of alcohol and drug-related deaths in the NHS Lothian area, for the age-groups and years requested, to the extent that they are available at present. GROS produced these figures by applying the same definitions as it used to prepare the tables which are referred to above.

  Alcohol-Related Deaths in the NHS Lothian Area

  

 
 17 and Under
 18 to 29
 30 to 55
 56 and over
 All Ages


 1999
 0
 3
 71
 90
 164


 2000
 1
 2
 91
 93
 187


 2001
 0
 2
 81
 108
 191


 2002
 0
 3
 94
 97
 194


 2003
 0
 1
 97
 105
 203


 2004
 1
 4
 92
 101
 198


 2005
 0
 3
 101
 117
 221


 2006
 0
 1
 69
 101
 171


 2007
 0
 4
 79
 89
 172


 2008 (prov.)
 0
 1
 75
 92
 168



  Source: GROS, on the Basis Described in the alcohol-related deaths section of its website.

  Drug-Related Deaths in the NHS Lothian Area

  

 
 17 and Under
 18 to 29
 30 to 55
 56 and over
 All Ages


 1999
 0
 23
 14
 2
 39


 2000
 1
 17
 18
 1
 37


 2001
 1
 20
 33
 0
 54


 2002
 1
 22
 15
 1
 39


 2003
 1
 19
 15
 5
 40


 2004
 0
 22
 13
 1
 36


 2005
 2
 13
 34
 8
 57


 2006
 0
 10
 33
 3
 46


 2007
 0
 12
 40
 2
 54



  Source: GROS, on the basis described in Drug-related Deaths in Scotland in 2007.

Education

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether provision of occupational therapy and speech therapy is included in HM Inspectorate of Education inspections for special schools for pupils with additional support needs.

Keith Brown: The impact of the work of a range of therapists, including occupational and speech and language therapists, is included in the inspection of special schools by HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE).

  Where appropriate, an HMIE report on a special school will comment on the impact of the contribution of therapists in helping to meet the learning needs of the young people there.

Emergency Services

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many attacks there have been on emergency workers while on call out, broken down by type of (a) emergency worker and (b) offence, in each year since 2005.

Kenny MacAskill: The police recorded crime statistics collected centrally are based on an aggregate return, and do not record the occupation of the victim. However, following the introduction of the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act in 2005, a new distinct crime classification of "Minor assault of an emergency worker" was created. Note that this will also include minor assaults of police officers during any course of their duties.

  The following table shows the number of offences of minor assault of an emergency worker recorded by the police in Scotland:

  Offences of Minor Assault of an Emergency Worker Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2005-06 to 2007-08

  

 
 2005-06
 2006-07
 2007-08


 Minor assault of an emergency worker
 518
 723
 753



  Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services.

  All serious assaults are recorded under a separate crime classification. However, the Scottish Government does not hold the number of serious assaults on emergency workers as the occupation of the victim is not held centrally.

Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to assist local authorities and community planning partnerships to undertake the environmental assessment of single outcome agreements in accordance with the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005.

John Swinney: There are no plans to specifically assist local authorities and community planning partnerships to undertake the environmental assessment of their single outcome agreements. However, a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Tool-kit, which includes SEA guidance and templates for each stage of the assessment process, is available on-line and is designed to assist responsible authorities within Scotland to undertake their SEA commitments. The tool-kit can be accessed at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/14587 .

Fuel Poverty

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum’s suggestion that interest-free loans be made available to applicants who do not qualify for the Scottish Government’s central heating programme.

Alex Neil: The issue of providing low interest loans, interest-free loans or equity release schemes for a range of purposes, including investing in home energy efficiency measures, is being considered in detail.

Fuel Poverty

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to announce its definitive response regarding the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum’s suggestion that interest-free loans be made available to applicants who do not qualify for the Scottish Government’s central heating programme.

Alex Neil: Proposals for low interest loans, interest-free loans or equity release schemes for a range of purposes, including investing in home energy efficiency measures, will come forward later in the year.

Health

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-17628 by Shona Robison on 17 November 2008, at which haematology departments and molecular genetics laboratories are tests for thrombophillia carried out.

Shona Robison: This information is not held centrally. As indicated in S3W-17628, however, there is ready access to these tests for any patient for whom they are clinically indicated.

Health

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are used when deciding if a patient should be tested for thrombophilia.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 62 on Prophylaxis of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) recommends that all pregnant women with a personal or family history of VTE in first or second degree relatives should be offered screening for thrombophilia.

  SIGN is now reviewing Guideline 62 and consultation on the revised draft guideline will take place during this year. The SIGN guideline development group has devised a set of key questions covering issues such as risk factors and testing, and the key questions about the investigations which predict risk of VTE refer to testing for thromobophilia as well as to family history.

  Additionally, the Scottish Government accepts the advice of the National Screening Committee that high risk groups should be tested, including the adult relatives of someone known to carry the Factor V Leiden gene. This is particularly relevant to those relatives of carriers who might be considering starting the combined oral contraceptive pill.

Health

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the standard NHS waiting time is for patients to be tested for thrombophilia.

Shona Robison: There is currently no waiting time standard specifically for thrombophilia tests. If such a test formed part of a patient’s pathway leading to hospital treatment, it would then be covered by the Scottish Government’s 18 weeks referral-to-treatment target, delivery of which is scheduled for the end of 2011.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19175 by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 January 2009, what discussions it has had with the UK Department of Health about the potential role for NHS Quality Improvement Scotland in the revised independent process.

Nicola Sturgeon: The discussions between the Scottish Government Health Directorates and the Department of Health in England have focused on establishing a collaborative process whereby the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) will ensure that Scottish interests are fully reflected in the continuous review process for Quality and Outcomes Framework indicators.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken by way of advertising in magazines and newspapers and provision of leaflets to patients to reduce the level of inappropriate requests for antibiotics when visiting GPs for the treatment of colds.

Nicola Sturgeon: There is a range of publicly available measures in place to provide information to patients and the public to reduce the level of inappropriate requests for antibiotics when visiting GPs for the treatment of colds. Many NHS boards run campaigns and produce leaflets and also provide information which can be accessed on their websites.

  The NHS 24 website also provides information on treatments for colds which explains why antibiotics should not be prescribed. This can be accessed at http://www.nhs24.com/content/.

Housing

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many affordable homes are due to be completed in the 12 month period to 31 March 2009.

Alex Neil: We currently expect to achieve a record number of completions of over 6,000 affordable homes in the 12 month period to 31 March 2009.

Housing

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what eligibility criteria it uses for the allocation of funds for (a) affordable homes and (b) other housing developments.

Alex Neil: The allocation of funds in the Affordable Housing Investment Programme in 2009-10 is based on the following principles:

  reinstating core funding in all local authority areas to at least 2007-08 levels;

  providing additional resources where required to meet legal commitments largely arising from previous local authority stock transfers, and

  directing the balance of funding available to those local authority areas in greatest homelessness pressures and greatest overall housing shortage.

  We do not allocate funding to other housing developments outwith the Affordable Housing Investment Programme.

Housing

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide support to developers to assist with infrastructure in order to help progress house building during the current economic recession.

Alex Neil: The Scottish Government has announced a record investment of £644 million next year for affordable housing, which will allow us to build more homes, support the construction industry and keep the economy moving. We are also urgently considering new ways of financing infrastructure investment, including through consultation with the Housing Supply Task Force.

Housing

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many homes will be built by the registered social landlord sector in 2010-11.

Alex Neil: This information is not available at this time.

Housing

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that money allocated for housing will be used for construction and not land banking.

Alex Neil: Funding allocated to the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP) will be used for both the construction costs of new housing and land banking to facilitate future developments. An adequate land bank is essential for the efficient delivery of future AHIP programmes, however, the majority of our funds are directed at construction activity in any one year.

Housing

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government on reforming missives for housing.

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review the law on missives for housing.

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it has supported plans to introduce a voluntary standard for missives in the housing industry.

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the housing industry on reforming the system of missives.

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what protection is available to purchasers once they have signed missives to buy a new-build home.

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to support people who signed missives before the current economic difficulties and now find it difficult to get a mortgage.

Fergus Ewing: Missives for the sale and purchase of property in Scotland consist of an exchange of formal letters framed by solicitors on behalf of the sellers and purchasers. The final formal letter concludes the bargain or contract between the parties. Scottish ministers cannot intervene in private disputes about missives between homebuilders selling new homes and individual purchasers.

  The Office of Fair Trading published its report on homebuilding in the UK in September 2008. It found that homebuyers experience problems with issues around the sales process, including with missives. It concluded that homebuyers needed more protection when buying a new home. The Scottish Government welcomes OFT’s conclusions, and in particular, the commitment of the industry to developing a code of conduct by March 2010 that would address consumer protection issues including those about missives.

  Of course, the regulation of the homebuilding industry is a reserved matter. I can confirm that the Scottish Government was fully involved in the development of the report and the UK Government response, which was published on 23 March 2009. The response is available at:

  http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/businesslaw/competition/market-studies/page17610.html.

Housing

Shirley-Anne Somerville (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what regulations govern the letting of property on a short-term or holiday accommodation basis.

Alex Neil: Any domestic premises, including short-term or holiday accommodation, is liable to investigation and action under Part 5 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. Part 5 of the act allows local authorities to take action against landlords to tackle disturbance and noise nuisance.

  Part 8 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 covers the mandatory registration of private landlords. This includes short-term accommodation but not houses for holiday use. In addition, part 7 of the act provides that a local authority can issue an Antisocial Behaviour Notice (ABN) on the landlord of a house where the tenant or occupant is engaging in antisocial behaviour.

Housing

Shirley-Anne Somerville (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are plans to include short-term and holiday lets within the definition of houses in multiple occupation that require HMO licensing under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006.

Alex Neil: The Scottish Government is aware of concerns that the definition of an HMO (house in multiple occupation) may not be sufficiently closely drawn, and that in some cases landlords may be evading HMO licensing requirements by claiming that properties are being let on a short-term or holiday let basis, and that tenants have principal residences elsewhere.

  We will be considering the options for implementing the HMO provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 later this year. The issue of short term lets, and what types of accommodation require to be licensed under those provisions, will be part of our discussions with stakeholders.

  HMO licensing is a regulatory regime with conditions designed to protect tenants whose principal or only residence is a multiply-occupied house. It is likely that extending HMO licensing requirements to holiday lets would have a significant impact on the tourism industry. We therefore have no plans to extend HMO licensing to genuine holiday lets.

Housing

Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to increase the eligibility weighting given to local connection in housing allocations.

Alex Neil: Social landlords develop their own allocation and lettings policies within the legislative framework and in line with their local priorities. While local connection is not a statutory criteria in the allocation of social housing, guidance on the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 makes clear that landlords may use local connection in determining priority as long as this is not based on length of residence in the area.

Housing

Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households are receiving rural home ownership grants, broken down by local authority.

Alex Neil: The number of households which have received rural home ownership grant approvals to date in the current financial year (2008-09), broken down by local authority, is as follows:

  Households Receiving Rural Home Ownership Grants 2008-09

  

 Aberdeenshire
 1


 Angus
 1


 Argyll and Bute
 7


 Highland
 20


 Orkney
 11


 Shetland
 2


 Western Isles
 4


 Total
 46

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria is used to identify what housing stock is bought from the private sector through the accelerated housing funding.

Alex Neil: The criteria used to identify stock bought from the private sector through the Accelerated Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AAHIP) are:

  Whether the properties are of the right type and size and in the right place, based on Local Housing Strategies and agreed with the local authority in each case;

  Whether the properties provide value for money, and

  Whether properties which do not meet Housing for Varying Needs or 2007 Building Regulations can nevertheless be justified on their merit.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the housing stock bought from the private sector through the accelerated housing funding is required to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.

Alex Neil: Housing stock owned by Registered Social Landlords will require to meet Scottish Housing Quality Standards by 2015. Newly built properties should exceed Scottish Housing Quality standards as a consequence of compliance with normal building regulations.

Justice

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners were given early release in each year since 1999, broken down by type of crime.

Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the information contained in the Parole Board Annual Reports, for the relevant years, at the following link: http://www.scottishparoleboard.gov.uk/pdf/Parole%20Board%202007.pdf .

Less Favoured Areas

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what happens to any surplus in the Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme (LFASS) budget at the end of a financial year after all outstanding claims have been processed.

Richard Lochhead: LFASS expenditure in any one year is a function of fixed payments rates and levels of demand in a constant eligible area. The indicative LFASS budget is £61 million a year, and is part of the overall Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) budget. Any variance between LFASS spend and its indicative budget results in correspondingly more or less funds being available for the rest of the SRDP.

Licensing

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many premises with a premises licence or a club premises certificate have closed in each of the last three years.

Kenny MacAskill: This information is not held centrally.

Local Income Tax

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil servants are working on its local income tax proposals, also broken down by pay grade.

John Swinney: The number of civil servants working on local income tax proposals has varied over the period since the last elections in May 2007. A core team of officials, whose number has varied from three to six and whose responsibilities also include work on the council tax, has been primarily engaged in developing local income tax proposals. This has comprised one "C" grade official and up to five "B" grade officials. In addition, a range of others have also worked on the proposals from time to time, including those in the senior civil service, communications officers, economists, statisticians and solicitors.

Local Income Tax

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reasons it did not publish the most recent version of its local income tax proposals following the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth’s announcement on 11 February 2009 ( Official Report c. 14893) that they would not be taken forward in the current parliamentary session.

John Swinney: As I said in my statement to Parliament on 11 February 2009, two factors were behind the Government’s decision not to proceed with legislation to abolish the unfair council tax and replace it with a local income tax until after the election in 2011. The first is that the UK Government announced a reduction of as much as £500 million in Scotland’s budget next year and the year after. I said it would not be wise - indeed, it would not be possible - to introduce a tax reduction of the scale that we propose in the face of such cuts. The second event was the impact of the parliamentary vote on 4 December 2008 related to the local income tax bill and the government’s subsequent experience of the budget process.

Local Income Tax

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18225 by John Swinney on 5 December 2008, whether it will publish the financial memorandum and regulatory impact assessment prepared for its proposed council tax abolition bill.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government intends to introduce proposals for a fairer local tax in the next session of Parliament. As part of the legislative process, we will publish a financial memorandum and regulatory impact assessment at that time.

Local Income Tax

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimated the (a) upfront and (b) annual costs to employers would be of introducing its local income tax.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government intends to introduce detailed proposals for a fairer local tax in the next session of Parliament. As part of the legislative process, we will publish a financial memorandum and regulatory impact assessment which will include a range of costings. As we have made clear, we are determined to minimise the impact of introduction of a local income tax on business and we will work with the business community to ensure this is the case.

Local Income Tax

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it received legal confirmation that its proposed local income tax was compliant with Article 9 of the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

John Swinney: It is the practice of successive governments, reflected in the Scottish Ministerial Code and the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, that the fact and content of legal advice is not revealed.

Local Income Tax

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its latest thinking is on how water and sewerage charges would be collected under a local income tax.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government intends to bring forward legislation to introduce a fairer local tax based on ability to pay in the next session of Parliament. Our proposals will set out any effects on water and sewerage charging.

Local Income Tax

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its latest thinking is on whether and how second homes would be taxed under a local income tax.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government has made clear that it intends to tax second homes under a fairer local tax system. That remains the government’s position. Detailed proposals will be introduced during the next session of Parliament.

NHS Hospitals

Paul Martin (Glasgow Springburn) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS sites need to be accessed by patients, visitors or staff; how many and which of these sites provide parking facilities, and at how many it provides or proposes to provide free parking.

Nicola Sturgeon: Parking at all NHS sites which are served by NHSScotland operated car parks is free.

NHS Hospitals

Paul Martin (Glasgow Springburn) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it costs to provide free parking at NHS hospitals, broken down by hospital.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS boards are required to fund the cost of car parking and its management from within their unified budgets whether or not car parking charges were in place. Abolition of car parking charges last year brought those five NHS boards which had car park charging policies into line with the remaining nine NHS boards.

NHS Services

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what form the independent scrutiny of NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s health care services will take.

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how long it anticipates that the independent scrutiny of NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s health care services will take.

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the deliberations of the independent scrutiny of NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s health care services will be communicated to service users in the region.

Nicola Sturgeon: I will make an announcement in due course on this issue.

NHS Services

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether members of the public will be involved in the independent scrutiny of NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s health care services.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-22079 on 30 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

NHS Staff

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many consultant posts there are in NHS Lanarkshire and how many are (a) vacant, (b) covered by a locum and (c) held by a permanent post holder, broken down by specialism.

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, for each consultant vacancy in NHS Lanarkshire, how long the post has been vacant, broken down by specialism.

Nicola Sturgeon: Information on consultant posts and vacancies, as at 30 September 2008, is published by Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5345.html . Information on vacancies is only held in two categories (a) under six months and (b) over six months. NHS Lanarkshire have advised that 22 posts are currently being filled by locums.

National Health Service

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS contracts for (a) new hospitals, (b) refurbished hospitals and (c) new health centres (i) commenced in 2008-09 and (ii) are due to commence in 2009-10, broken down by project cost.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested was sourced from NHS boards and is detailed in the following table:

  

 NHS Board
 Project
2008-09 £000
2009-10 £000


 Ayrshire and Arran
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals 
 
 


 
 Girvan Community Hospital
 19,905
 


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Ayr Endoscopy Unit
 1,486
 


 
 Ayr A&E Refurbishment
 
 3,269


 
 Crosshouse Pathology Extension
 763
 


 
 Ayr Satellite Renal Unit
 
 1,794


 
 Ayrshire Central Comm. Hospital
 9,983
 1,625


 
 (c) Health Centres
 
 


 
 Patna Resource Centre
 2,867
 


 
 Medical Centre, Lamlash
 
 185


 
 North Ayr Services Centre
 
 4,780


 
 Medical Centre, Lochranza
 225
 


 
 Ardrossan Resource Centre
 
 2,220


 
 Crosshouse Resource Centre
 
 2,984


 Borders
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (c) Health Centres
 
 


 
 Galashiels (Roxburgh Street)
 
 2,100


 
 Jedburgh
 
 1,600


 
 Lauder
 
 1,300


 Dumfries and Galloway
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Acute Mental Development
 
 26,418


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (c) Health Centres
 
 


 
 Primary Care Modernisation – Lochfield Road
 
 4,770


 Fife
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Regional Learning Disabilities Forensic Unit at Lynebank site
 3,600
 


 
 Mental Health Unit at Stratheden site
 4,200
 


 
 Assessment Treatment Unit at Lynebank site
 
 3,900


 
 Mental Health Unit at Stratheden site
 
 4,900


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 General Hospitals and Maternity Services
 7,100
 9,400


 
 (c) Health Centres
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 Forth Valley
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (c) New Health Centres
 
 


 
 Stenhousemuir Health Centre
 
 8,830


 Grampian
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Emergency Care Centre
 95,000
 


 
 Forress Hospital and Health Centre
 
 12,000


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Chalmers
 13,000
 


 
 Fraserburgh
 2,000
 


 
 Woodend
 1,000
 


 
 (c) New Health Centres
 
 


 
 Banff
 3,000
 


 
 Laurencekirk
 3,000
 


 
 Foresterhill
 
 7,000


 
 Whinhill
 
 4,000


 
 Braemar
 
 1,000


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Extension to the Physically Disabled Unit at SGH
 1,400
 


 
 Refurbishment of the Maternity Unit at RAH
 4,500
 


 
 Refurbishment to Wards at the Vale of Leven H
 2,000
 


 
 Fit out for Gynaecology Beds at the GRI
 9,800
 


 
 Refurbishment of Wards at GRI
 24,500
 


 
 Refurbishment of Wards at GGH
 18,000
 


 
 Obstetric Extension & Refurbishment at SGH 
 27,700
 


 
 Refurbishment of Wards at Gartnavel Royal
 2,500
 


 
 Refurbishment of Blytheswood House for Learning Disabilities
 800
 


 
 Refurbishment of wards at Leverndale
 1,800
 


 
 Refurbishment of Wards at Ravenscraig
 1,000
 


 
 New Multi-storey Car Park at SGH
 
 9,500


 
 Laboratory Refurbishment at GRI
 
 10,200


 
 New Laboratory Block at SGH
 
 61,000


 
 Refurbishment of Maternity Wards at RAH
 
 1,600


 
 Refurbishment for Dental accommodation RAH
 
 4,000


 
 Refurbishment of A & E at GRI
 
 5,000


 
 Clyde Mental Health Strategy – Extension & Refurbishment of Existing Wards
 
 12,100


 
 Relocation of In-patient Beds for SGH
 
 8,500


 
 Perinatal Mother & Baby Unit SGH 
 
 2,500


 
 (c) New Health Centres
 
 


 
 SW Elderly Resource Centre – Pollok
 2,200
 


 
 Renfrew Health Centre
 17,200
 


 
 Kirkintilloch Integrated Health & Care Centre
 7,900
 


 
 Drumchapel Child & Family Centre
 
 5,000


 
 Bridgeton HC Extension
 
 1,500


 
 Barrhead Health Centre
 
 18,000


 
 Wellpark Addictions Centre in Greenock
 
 2,100


 
 Re-provision of Possilpark HC
 
 9,000


 Highland
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Migdale Hospital, Bonar Bridge
 
 8,334


 
 Day Services Centre, Raigmore Hospital
 
 26,237


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 New Cardio-Respiratory Facilities, Raigmore Hospital
 1,991
 


 
 New Casualty Unit, Dunnoon
 1,894
 


 
 Voltage infrastructure upgrade, Raigmore Hospital
 1,500
 


 
 New Cath Lab, Raigmore Hospital
 
 3,073


 
 Helensburgh Victoria JDU upgrade
 
 825


 
 (c) New Health Centres
 
 


 
 Bunessan
 
 925


 
 Tigh-na-bruiach
 
 1,458


 
 
 
 


 Lanarkshire
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Monklands Modular Building
 1,650
 547


 
 (c) New Health Centres
 
 


 
 Airdrie Resource Centre
 580
 6,000


 
 Bellshill Community Health Clinic
 2,800
 70


 
 Douglas Street (Caird House Enabling Works)
 4,000
 250


 
 Carluke Community Health Centre
 2,700
 9,896


 
 Dalziel Centre – Lymphoedema Centre
 350
 


 
 Larkhall Institute
 10
 


 
 Coatbridge Dental & Integrated Resource Centre
 3,800
 9,520


 
 Hunter Health Centre
 270
 


 
 Coathill Wards 2 & 3
 408
 


 
 LD Assessment & Treatment Centre
 700
 5,239


 
 Adults with Complex Needs – Coathill
 514
 


 
 Adults with Complex Needs – Caird House
 300
 4,151


 
 Old Age Psychiatry Integrated Day Service (Capital Grant)
 58
 


 
 Adults with Complex Needs Ward – Coathill
 
 4,059


 
 Larkhall Community Health Clinic
 
 1,000


 Lothian
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Chalmers
 
 9


 
 (c) New Health Centres
 
 


 
 Dalkeith
 4,000
 


 
 Lauriston Place
 1,000
 


 
 Musselburgh
 21,000
 


 Orkney
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (c) New Health Centres
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 Shetland
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Gilbert Bain Hospital – Phase 2
 2,600
 953


 
 (c) New Health Centres
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 Tayside
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Women’s clinic and midwife unit, Ninewells Hospital
 2,434
 1,126


 
 Macmillan Unit, Perth Royal Infirmary
 1,869
 3,497


 
 Pharmacy, Perth Royal Infirmary
 75
 1,408


 
 Endoscopy, Perth Royal Infirmary 
 10
 2,021


 
 Gamma Camera, Perth Royal Infirmary
 54
 1,446


 
 Nuclear Medicine, Ninewells Hospital
 39
 841


 
 Satellite Renal Unit, Angus
 
 750


 
 Assisted Conception Unit, Ninewells Hospital
 201
 2,264


 
 Dental "teach and treat" Centre, Perth
 324
 3,832


 
 Carseview Decant
 50
 2,550


 
 Midwife Unit, Angus
 
 2,337


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (c) New Health Centres
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 Western Isles
 
 
 


 
 (a) New Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (b) Refurbished Hospitals
 
 


 
 Nil
 
 


 
 (c) New Health Centres
 
 


 
 Nil

National Trust for Scotland

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, following the announcement in March 2009 of job losses at the National Trust for Scotland, what communication VisitScotland has had with the trust about keeping historic properties open to the public.

Jim Mather: The National Trust for Scotland is an independent charitable trust and is responsible for its own finances and management of its properties. Discussions between VisitScotland and the Trust will take place in mid-April to discuss the proposals. Scottish Government officials have already met with the Trust and discussed how the impact of the planned closures on tourism and Homecoming can be kept to a minimum.

Planning

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discretion local authorities have to waive or reduce planning fees for community organisations and community interest companies.

John Swinney: None. The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 require that "where an application is made to a planning authority for planning permission or for the approval of reserved matters, a fee shall be paid to that authority in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations". The regulations do provide that Community Councils who submit a planning application are only required to pay half of the appropriate fee, however, no provisions are made for any other type of community group.

Planning

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to local authorities on issues associated with planning fees.

John Swinney: Circular 1/2004, The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2004, was published to accompany the regulations.

  A further circular, 2/2007 The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007, was published to accompany amendments made to the fees schedule of the regulations. Both circulars are extant.

  Both circulars are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 35105 and 42672 respectively).

Planning

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to alter regulations relating to the planning fees charged by local authorities.

John Swinney: No decision has yet been taken on this issue at this time.

Prison Service

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisons have links to drug rehabilitation services for prisoners post-release.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  All prisons have links to drug rehabilitation services post-release. These links are made through the Enhanced Addiction Casework Service to the National Throughcare Addiction Service (TAS).

Prison Service

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have been referred to drug rehabilitation services in the community post-release in the last 12 months, broken down by prison.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  All referrals to the National Throughcare Addiction Service (TAS) are made by the Enhanced Addiction Casework Service. The number of referrals which were made from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 are detailed in the following table:

  Referrals to TAS, 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008

  

 Establishment
 


 Aberdeen
 83


 Barlinnie
 279


 Cornton Vale
 347


 Dumfries
 66


 Edinburgh
 167


 Glenochil
 46


 Greenock
 152


 Inverness
 106


 Open Estate
 17


 Perth
 149


 Low Moss
 22


 Polmont
 154


 Shotts
 0


 Total
 1,588

Prison Service

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners were randomly tested for drugs tested in the last 12 months, broken down by prison, number of positive tests and substances identified.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  Table 1 illustrates the kinds of tests undertaken in the last 12 months. Table 2 illustrates the number of Positive Tests and the drug categories found.

  Table 1 All Tests

  

Establishment Code
Frequent Test Programme
On Reception
Reasonable Suspicion
Risk Assessment
 Voluntary
 Grand Total


 Aberdeen
 
 
 
 8
 1
 9


 Barlinnie
 
 1
 30
 1,474
 346
 1,851


 Cornton Vale
 124
 
 73
 202
 1,152
 1,551


 Dumfries
 
 
 136
 92
 1
 229


 Edinburgh
 12
 
 62
 911
 76
 1,061


 Glenochil
 2
 1
 219
 11
 1,784
 2,018


 Greenock
 13
 57
 49
 234
 
 353


 Inverness
 
 
 15
 13
 
 28


 Kilmarnock
 
 
 600
 158
 894
 1,652


 Open Estate
 
 1
 131
 6,036
 15
 6,183


 Peterhead
 6
 1
 42
 196
 240
 486


 Polmont
 5
 
 285
 367
 122
 779


 Perth
 
 
 347
 588
 
 935


 Shotts
 
 
 531
 1,062
 2,072
 3,665


 Grand Total
 162
 61
 2,520
 11,352
 6,703
 20,800



  Table 2 Positive Tests

  

 Aberdeen
 Benzodiazepines
 1


 Barlinnie
 Amphetamines
 4


 
 Benzodiazepines
 22


 
 Benzodiazepines Prescribed
 2


 
 Cannabis
 38


 
 Cannabis Positive OPR
 1


 
 Cocaine
 6


 
 Methadone
 4


 
 Methadone Prescribed
 14


 
 NIL FOUND
 3


 
 Opiates
 20


 
 Opiates Prescribed
 3


 Cornton Vale
 Amphetamines
 2


 
 Benzodiazepines
 48


 
 Benzodiazepines Positive OPR
 2


 
 Benzodiazepines Prescribed
 2


 
 Cannabis
 23


 
 Cannabis Positive OPR
 3


 
 Cocaine
 5


 
 Lsd
 1


 
 Methadone
 3


 
 Methadone Prescribed
 15


 
 NIL FOUND
 1


 
 Opiates
 83


 
 Opiates Prescribed
 1


 
 Temgesic
 13


 Dumfries
 Alcohol Dependency
 1


 
 Amphetamines
 1


 
 Amphetamines Positive OPR
 1


 
 Amphetamines Prescribed
 1


 
 Barbiturates
 1


 
 Barbiturates Positive OPR
 1


 
 Barbiturates Prescribed
 1


 
 Benzodiazepines
 8


 
 Benzodiazepines Positive OPR
 2


 
 Benzodiazepines Prescribed
 2


 
 Cannabis
 12


 
 Cannabis Positive OPR
 1


 
 Cocaine
 2


 
 Cocaine Positive OPR
 1


 
 Further Challenge
 1


 
 Liberation-Result Pending
 1


 
 Lsd
 1


 
 LSD Positive OPR
 1


 
 Methadone
 1


 
 Methadone Positive OPR
 1


 
 Methadone Prescribed
 5


 
 NIL FOUND
 1


 
 Opiates
 14


 
 Opiates Positive OPR
 1


 
 Opiates Prescribed
 1


 
 Temgesic
 1


 
 Temgesic Positive OPR
 1


 
 Temgesic Prescribed
 1


 
 Tramadol
 1


 
 Tramadol Opr
 1


 
 Tramadol Prescribed
 1


 Edinburgh
 Amphetamines
 8


 
 Benzodiazepines
 25


 
 Cannabis
 43


 
 Cocaine
 2


 
 Lsd
 1


 
 Methadone
 8


 
 Opiates
 108


 
 Opiates Prescribed
 1


 
 Temgesic
 20


 
 Temgesic Prescribed
 1


 Glenochil
 Amphetamines
 11


 
 Benzodiazepines
 29


 
 Cannabis
 19


 
 Cocaine
 1


 
 Opiates
 139


 
 Temgesic
 39


 Greenock
 Amphetamines
 1


 
 Benzodiazepines
 7


 
 Benzodiazepines Positive OPR
 12


 
 Cannabis
 17


 
 Cannabis Positive OPR
 7


 
 Cocaine Positive OPR
 1


 
 Methadone
 1


 
 Methadone Positive OPR
 2


 
 Opiates
 27


 
 Opiates Positive OPR
 8


 
 Temgesic
 3


 
 Temgesic Positive OPR
 2


 Inverness
 Benzodiazepines
 1


 
 Cannabis
 2


 
 Methadone
 2


 
 Methadone Prescribed
 1


 
 NIL FOUND
 1


 
 Opiates
 6


 Kilmarnock
 Amphetamines
 6


 
 Benzodiazepines
 98


 
 Cannabis
 30


 
 Cocaine
 5


 
 Methadone
 33


 
 Methadone Prescribed
 1


 
 Opiates
 166


 
 Opiates Prescribed
 6


 
 Temgesic
 36


 Open Estate
 Amphetamines
 1


 
 Benzodiazepines
 32


 
 Cannabis
 61


 
 Cocaine
 27


 
 Methadone
 2


 
 Methadone Prescribed
 17


 
 NIL FOUND
 5


 
 Opiates
 150


 
 Opiates Positive OPR
 8


 
 Opiates Prescribed
 1


 
 Temgesic
 12


 Peterhead
 Cannabis
 1


 
 NIL FOUND
 1


 
 Opiates
 2


 
 Opiates Prescribed
 2


 Polmont
 Amphetamines
 6


 
 Benzodiazepines
 13


 
 Benzodiazepines Positive OPR
 2


 
 Benzodiazepines Prescribed
 4


 
 Cannabis
 88


 
 Cannabis Positive OPR
 7


 
 Cocaine
 1


 
 Methadone Prescribed
 26


 
 Opiates
 4


 
 Temgesic
 3


 Perth
 Amphetamines
 4


 
 Benzodiazepines
 50


 
 Benzodiazepines Positive OPR
 2


 
 Benzodiazepines Prescribed
 3


 
 Cannabis
 116


 
 Cannabis Positive OPR
 5


 
 Cocaine
 1


 
 Lsd
 1


 
 Methadone
 12


 
 Methadone Prescribed
 24


 
 Opiates
 68


 
 Opiates Prescribed
 1


 
 Temgesic
 10


 Shotts
 Amphetamines
 2


 
 Barbiturates
 6


 
 Benzodiazepines
 83


 
 Benzodiazepines Positive OPR
 1


 
 Cannabis
 166


 
 Cannabis Positive OPR
 1


 
 Cocaine
 8


 
 Methadone
 44


 
 Methadone Prescribed
 2


 
 Opiates
 314


 
 Temgesic
 49


 
 Temgesic Prescribed
 1


 Grand Total
 
 2,776

Prison Service

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive on average how many offenders who have participated in drug rehabilitation in prison subsequently reoffend.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  This information is not available.

Recycling

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much paper for recycling is being stockpiled, broken down by local authority.

Richard Lochhead: We are not aware of any local authority in Scotland that is having to stockpile paper as a consequence of the economic downturn.

Recycling

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much glass for recycling is being stockpiled, broken down by local authority.

Richard Lochhead: We are not aware of any local authority in Scotland that is having to stockpile glass as a consequence of the economic downturn.

Recycling

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much packaging for recycling is being stockpiled, broken down by local authority.

Richard Lochhead: We are not aware of any local authority in Scotland that is having to stockpile packaging as a consequence of the economic downturn.

Registers of Scotland

Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what goals it expects Registers of Scotland to achieve in 2009-10.

Jim Mather: Scottish Ministers have set Registers of Scotland the financial goal of achieving a return of no less than -6% on net capital employed for the three-year period ending 31 March 2010.

  In addition, the Keeper of the Registers will shortly publish Registers of Scotland’s (RoS) 2009-14 Corporate Plan, which sets objectives to secure continuing performance improvements. In particular, as milestones for 2009-10, the Keeper has set the following goals for the conduct of registrations and for customer service, which ministers endorse.

  To limit the increase in the standard production cost index to no more than 5% for the three years ending 31 March 2010 compared with the three-year performance to 31 March 2009.

  Where it is in the Keeper’s power and is legally appropriate, to complete the recording and registration of:

  - 80% of Sasine writs within 20 working days, with no writ taking longer than 40 working days;

  - 80% of Dealings with Whole within 30 working days, with no Dealing taking longer than 100 working days, and

  - 80% of standard First Registration applications within 70 working days.

  As milestones in year two of a three-year strategy to deal with older, complex casework, where it is in the Keeper’s power and is legally appropriate, to:

  - complete the registration of 40,000 Transfers of Part cases, along with their consequential Dealings with Whole, and

  - eliminate all pre-October 2008 First Registration casework.

  To achieve a registration accuracy rate of at least 98.5% for applications despatched during the previous 12 months.

  To provide a high-level of customer service by:

  - achieving a 98% rating for overall customer care in the annual customer satisfaction survey, and

  - processing 98% of all customer enquiries in compliance with RoS’s improved published response standards.

Renewable Energy

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has recorded the actual measured carbon savings resulting from the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme since 2002 and whether it plans to record actual measured carbon savings in the future.

Jim Mather: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-20734 on 9 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

  In that answer, we set out the number of Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) issued for renewable energy schemes in Scotland from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and provided a method of estimating the potential carbon saving made by that renewable generation, compared to generating the same amount of electricity using fossil fuels.

  Estimates of carbon savings are made using assumptions regarding the types of fossil fuel generation that are displaced. As actual emissions associated with energy generation are influenced by a range of factors, it is not possible to attribute those variations in emissions specifically to schemes operating under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland). For that reason, there are no plans for the Scottish Government to record savings attributable to this scheme in the future.

  Greenhouse gas emissions data are published annually in Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The latest available data, covering the period 1990-2006, was published on 18 September 2008. A copy is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 46558), and on the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory website where more detailed data is also available http://www.naei.org.uk/report_link.php?report_id=527.

Renewable Energy

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the numbers of Renewable Obligation Certificates issued to renewable energy schemes can be regarded as a proxy for carbon savings and on what basis.

Jim Mather: The Scottish Government considers that the number of Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) issued provide a means of estimating the potential carbon saving made by renewable generation, compared to generating the same amount of electricity represented by those ROCs but using fossil fuels.

Scottish Government Finance

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it no longer provides level 4 budget detail on request.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government continues to publish all its budget information at what is commonly referred to as level 3. The amount of budget detailed below this level varies between activities but where available is still provided by the Scottish Government on request - there has been no change to our policy on provision of financial information.

Scottish Government Staff

Jackson Carlaw (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the mileage rate is for reimbursing its employees for work-related journeys made by car and, if there are differing rates, who is entitled to each rate.

John Swinney: A mileage allowance is payable when Scottish Government staff use their private motor vehicles for travel on official business. The use of private motor vehicles, however, should only occur when it is established that an official allocated vehicle, a hired car or public transport is either not available or practicable. The current mileage rates apply to all staff and are as follows:

  

 Motor Vehicle Mileage 
 40 pence per mile


 Motor Cycle Mileage 
 24 pence per mile


 Leased Car Mileage 
 8 pence per mile (this does not apply to self drive hired cars or officially allocated self drive cars)


 Passenger Supplement 
 5 pence per mile for each passenger travelling


 Equipment Supplement 
 2 pence per mile

State Hospital

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19481 by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 January 2009, whether there will by any provision for female mentally disordered offenders at the State Hospital after 2011.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government has worked with the State Hospital and other NHS boards to develop medium secure services for women patients and has transferred, or will shortly transfer, all women patients at the State Hospital to more appropriate accommodation thus meeting the principles and requirements of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

  The intention is therefore that there will be no provision for female mentally disordered offenders at the State Hospital after 2011. Rather, in the future, should high secure services be required for women, the NHS will commission them as appropriate.

Vaccinations

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent since 1998 on promoting, publicising and advertising the MMR vaccine as safe.

Shona Robison: The only promotion or publicity campaign undertaken around MMR is the MMR: Never too late campaign, which was carried out by NHS Health Scotland in 2006. This consisted of posters and leaflets which were (and continue to be) supplied to local NHS boards should they wish to undertake local tailored campaign work on this issue. The main message of this campaign is that it is never too late to consider the MMR vaccination, and that those who have not had the vaccine at an earlier age, for what ever reason, can still receive it. The focus is therefore on making it clear that the MMR vaccine is available at any age, rather than to respond to any concerns around safety of the vaccine.

  A total of 75,000 Leaflets and 10,000 posters were printed in March 2006 for this campaign, at a cost of £4,147.

Vaccinations

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many adverse reactions have been reported as a result of administering the human papilloma virus vaccine to girls.

Shona Robison: The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the government agency which is responsible for monitoring the safety of medicines and vaccines, including the HPV vaccines. The MHRA and the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) run the UK’s suspected adverse reaction reporting scheme, called the Yellow Card Scheme. As of 19 March 2009, 158 reports of suspected adverse reactions following Cervarix, or brand unspecified HPV vaccine,have been received by the MHRA from Scotland. out of a total of 1,454 reports of suspected adverse reactions received across the UK. This follows administration of more than 700,000 doses of vaccine across the UK.

  An updated summary of these reports is published on the MHRA website each week at (www.mhra.gov.uk/HPVvaccine). These reports relate to adverse medical events which the reporter considered could have been caused by the vaccine (i.e. if there was merely a suspicion of causality). Therefore, reports may be true side-effects or they may have been purely coincidental events, due to underlying or undiagnosed illness, that would have occurred anyway in the absence of vaccination.

  The MHRA has reported that, to date, the majority of adverse reactions have related to the signs and symptoms of recognised side effects, or were due to the injection process (e.g. due to a fear of the needle). CHM has advised that no serious risks have been identified and the balance of risks and benefits of Cervarix remains positive.

Waste Management

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3O-6270 by Richard Lochhead on 19 March 2009, where in the 32 single outcome agreements there is reference to fortnightly refuse collections.

Richard Lochhead: Generally speaking, single outcome agreements (SOAs) do not include references to alternate weekly collections. The introduction, or otherwise, of alternate weekly collections for residual household waste is a matter for individual local authorities.

  North Ayrshire and North Lanarkshire Councils briefly make reference to alternate weekly collections in their SOAs, however they do so in the context of highlighting actions being taken to meet recycling and landfill directive targets.

Water Safety

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is or will be issued to ensure regular testing for bacterial infection of bottled water dispensers and mains-fed point-of-use water dispensers.

Shona Robison: There is no specific guidance on testing of water dispensers for possible bacterial contamination. However, Section 76F(1) of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980 places a duty on local authorities to keep themselves informed about the wholesomeness and sufficiency of water supplies provided to premises in their area.

  All organisations that install water dispensers, and everyone who uses them, have responsibilities in terms of their maintenance and cleanliness.

Water Safety

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is or will be issued to ensure regular testing for bacterial infection of bottled water dispensers and mains-fed point-of-use water dispensers where such dispensers are in an NHS setting as part of measures to prevent healthcare associated infections.

Nicola Sturgeon: There is no specific guidance on testing of water dispensers for possible bacterial contamination in a healthcare setting. However, Section 76F(1) of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980 places a duty on local authorities to keep themselves informed about the wholesomeness and sufficiency of water supplies provided to premises in their area.

  All organisations that install water dispensers, and everyone who uses them, have responsibilities in terms of their maintenance and cleanliness.

Water Safety

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that the European drinking water directive, as enacted in the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2001 and the Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water (Scotland) No.2 Regulations 2007, is extended to cover both bottle-fed dispensers and mains-fed point-of-use water dispensers to ensure freedom from coliformis, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus aureus.

Shona Robison: Water used in both bottle-fed and mains-fed water coolers must comply with the quality standards in the Drinking Water Directive, or, in the case of natural mineral water, the standards in Council Directive 80/777/EEC, and must be free from microbiological contamination.